PTF quits at startup - directing to Playback Engine
 

Hello

I am brand new to Pro Tools, but have used Logic for many years.


I have a new windows laptop and would like to experiment using Pro Tools for DAW work on the go, but have run into an issue, and would really appreciate some help.


The issue:


PT First starts up and then pops up this message:

Welcome to Pro Tools First!

Before you get started, you will be directed to the Playback Engine, make sure that the proper audio playback device is selected.


I press OK to acknowledge this message, and then nothing happens (the application seems to quit)

I have tired to press N during startup - no change.

PTF ver: 2018.7.0
OS: Win 10 home (very latest patches)
H/W: Dell XPS 9370 i7, 16 GB RAM, 500 GB SSD, 2 TB HDD
Audio: Built in / native Realtek Audio interface (which is also preferred as I will use this device on the go)

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated

Re: PTF quits at startup - directing to Playback Engine
 

PTF requires that you have an ASIO compatible audio interface, which most internal sound cards are not. Although I generally don't recommend ASIO4ALL, you could give it a try to see if PTF will run on your system. Don't expect great performance when using it though.

It should however get you past where you are now with PTF, then you can decide if you want an external ASIO audio interface for your laptop.

Re: PTF quits at startup - directing to Playback Engine
 

Thank you very much for your advice, Will - very much appreciated.

I wasn't aware of that restriction. I will explore the asio4all option and, if it works, perhaps consider an external portable asio interface option.

Regards
Nolan

Re: PTF quits at startup - directing to Playback Engine
 

Thank you Will. Time & effort would be saved by all if the install (or at least the application startup) detected this missing dependency and gave an appropriate message. Basically I spent the 3 hours it takes just to get PTF/ILok/other dependencies running on my laptop only to realize my laptop is incompatible.

Re: PTF quits at startup - directing to Playback Engine
 

Pro Tools First (and Pro Tool 12 and later versions) also supports Windows ASAPI audio devices, that may be a better option than ASIO4ALL. The best approach however is often just get a dedicated ASIO audio interface.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tT3QSDz8k04

But yes this is a perfect example of sloppy programming by Avid, the installer should warn if it cannot find a suitable device, link to relevant documentation etc. There are many cases of cryptic errors/crashes in Pro Tools that could be avoided with some simple checking in the code and a nice human understandable warning/error. Avid seems to be a very lazy/sloppy here.

Re: PTF quits at startup - directing to Playback Engine
 

Have they straightened this out yet? I have only been able to use PTFirst on my laptop once with native ASIO drivers, but once I quit and went back to it later, it started doing the whole Playback Engine crash thing.

I find it hard to believe that after all these years, Avid would not have fixed this problem. I would suspect that if PTFirst is doing this, then so would the full PT, and that would be unacceptable to its users.

I've tried all the tricks that full PT users can use to clear this problem, but it just refuses to cooperate. Is there any way to generate logs so that someone might be able to diagnose it?

Re: PTF quits at startup - directing to Playback Engine
 

This is a copy of the last log. It looks as if it's latched onto something that's not in the system. I deleted and reinstalled Presonus Universal Control, limiting it to installing only the Audiobox USB drivers, and as far as I can see, there are no Realtek ASIO drivers for me to uninstall, yet it keeps trying to use them. Even hitting N during startup doesn't work because even while it points me to the Playback Engine prompt, it still quits and never gives me a chance to get into the Playback Engine.

WORKAROUND: PTF quits at startup - directing to Playback Engine
 

Just hit this same error trying to install PTF on my system. It's a problem with the Realtek drivers. From your PDF:

794.102466,057e4,0e0d: WASAPI: SelectDevice Input Pref: Sel:Microphone
(Realtek(R) Audio)
794.105941,057e4,0e0c: PBEngine: sample rate = 0
794.106016,057e4,0e0f: PtApp_Assert(Release):
"CFicAAXWidget::SetWidgetSampleRate - cannot set unsupported sample rate:
0 Hz", E:\Code\238949\ProTools\AAE\Source\AAX\CFicAAXWidg et.cpp Line 994,
Thread: Main Thread (id=kThreadTableID_MainThread)

On my system, I was able to get PTF to run by going into Device Manager (Right click on start menu to run it) and then under 'Sound, Video and Game Controllers' right-clicking on 'Realtek(R) Audio' and choosing disable. Disables onboard sound on the computer, but I rarely use it anyway.